NEPA Accountability and Oversight Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4620 To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to impose time limits on the completion of certain required actions under the Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 Mr. LEE introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 to impose time limits on the completion of certain re- quired actions under the Act, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘NEPA Accountability 4 and Oversight Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT 6 TIMELINES. 7 Title I of the National Environmental Policy Act of 8 1969 is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4620 IS (1) by redesignating section 105 (42 U.S.C. 1 4335) as section 106; and 2 (2) by inserting after section 104 (42 U.S.C. 3 4334) the following: 4 ‘‘SEC. 105. APPLICABLE TIMELINES. 5 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT.— 7 The term ‘environmental impact statement’ means a 8 detailed statement required under section 102(2)(C). 9 ‘‘(2) FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term ‘Federal 10 agency’ includes a State that has assumed responsi- 11 bility under section 327 of title 23, United States 12 Code. 13 ‘‘(3) HEAD OF A FEDERAL AGENCY.—The term 14 ‘head of a Federal agency’ includes the governor or 15 head of an applicable State agency of a State that 16 has assumed responsibility under section 327 of title 17 23, United States Code. 18 ‘‘(4) NEPA PROCESS.— 19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘NEPA 20 process’ means the entirety of every process, 21 analysis, or other measure, including an envi- 22 ronmental impact statement, required to be car- 23 ried out by a Federal agency under this title be- 24 fore the agency undertakes a proposed action. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4620 IS ‘‘(B) PERIOD.—For purposes of subpara- 1 graph (A), the NEPA process— 2 ‘‘(i) begins on the date on which the 3 head of a Federal agency receives an appli- 4 cation for a proposed action from a project 5 sponsor; and 6 ‘‘(ii) ends on the date on which the 7 Federal agency issues, with respect to the 8 proposed action— 9 ‘‘(I) a record of decision, includ- 10 ing, if necessary, a revised record of 11 decision; 12 ‘‘(II) a finding of no significant 13 impact; or 14 ‘‘(III) a categorical exclusion 15 under this title. 16 ‘‘(5) PROJECT SPONSOR.—The term ‘project 17 sponsor’ means a Federal agency or other entity, in- 18 cluding a private or public-private entity, that seeks 19 approval of a proposed action. 20 ‘‘(b) APPLICABLE TIMELINES.— 21 ‘‘(1) NEPA PROCESS.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The head of a Federal 23 agency shall complete the NEPA process for a 24 proposed action of the Federal agency, as de- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4620 IS scribed in subsection (a)(4)(B)(ii), not later 1 than 2 years after the date described in sub- 2 section (a)(4)(B)(i). 3 ‘‘(B) ENVIRONMENTAL DOCUMENTS.— 4 Within the period described in subparagraph 5 (A), not later than 1 year after the date de- 6 scribed in subsection (a)(4)(B)(i), the head of 7 the Federal agency shall, with respect to the 8 proposed action— 9 ‘‘(i) issue— 10 ‘‘(I) a finding that a categorical 11 exclusion applies to the proposed ac- 12 tion; or 13 ‘‘(II) a finding of no significant 14 impact; or 15 ‘‘(ii) publish a notice of intent to pre- 16 pare an environmental impact statement in 17 the Federal Register. 18 ‘‘(C) ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATE- 19 MENT.—If the head of a Federal agency pub- 20 lishes a notice of intent described in subpara- 21 graph (B)(ii), within the period described in 22 subparagraph (A) and not later than 1 year 23 after the date on which the head of the Federal 24 agency publishes the notice of intent, the head 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4620 IS of the Federal agency shall complete the envi- 1 ronmental impact statement and, if necessary, 2 any supplemental environmental impact state- 3 ment for the proposed action. 4 ‘‘(2) AUTHORIZATIONS AND PERMITS.— 5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 6 days after the date described in subsection 7 (a)(4)(B)(ii), the head of a Federal agency shall 8 issue— 9 ‘‘(i) any necessary permit or author- 10 ization to carry out the proposed action; or 11 ‘‘(ii) a denial of the permit or author- 12 ization necessary to carry out the proposed 13 action. 14 ‘‘(B) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO ISSUE AU- 15 THORIZATION OR PERMIT.—If a permit or au- 16 thorization described in subparagraph (A) is 17 not issued or denied within the period described 18 in that subparagraph, the permit or authoriza- 19 tion shall be considered to be approved. 20 ‘‘(C) DENIAL OF PERMIT OR AUTHORIZA- 21 TION.— 22 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If a permit or au- 23 thorization described in subparagraph (A) 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4620 IS is denied, the head of the Federal agency 1 shall describe to the project sponsor— 2 ‘‘(I) the basis of the denial; and 3 ‘‘(II) recommendations for the 4 project sponsor with respect to how to 5 address the reasons for the denial. 6 ‘‘(ii) RECOMMENDED CHANGES.—If 7 the project sponsor carries out the rec- 8 ommendations of the head of the Federal 9 agency under clause (i)(II) and notifies the 10 head of the Federal agency that the rec- 11 ommendations have been carried out, the 12 head of the Federal agency— 13 ‘‘(I) shall decide whether to issue 14 the permit or authorization described 15 in subparagraph (A) not later than 90 16 days after the date on which the 17 project sponsor submitted the notifica- 18 tion; and 19 ‘‘(II) shall not carry out the 20 NEPA process with respect to the 21 proposed action again.’’. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:28 Sep 29, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4620.IS S4620 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS